Willow Glen Resident
Sports
Guttierrez nails 4th at league mat finals
By Kevin Sparrer
In order to be the best you have to beat the best, and Willow Glen's Jose Guttierrez has joined the ranks as one of the best.
Guttierrez finished fourth on Feb. 10 at the Blossom Valley Athletic League wrestling finals at Oak Grove. He's one of five Willow Glen Rams to place in the top eight at the league tourney and qualify for the Central Coast Section tournament Feb. 23-24 at Independence and Overfelt high schools.
Guttierrez took fourth at 217s after being pinned in the third-place match against David Mendoza of Lincoln. In the semifinal round of the consolation bracket, Guttierrez had pinned Juniel Morales of James Lick in 1:53.
Guttierrez lost his first match in the semifinal round to Tui James of Independence by pin in 41 seconds. He had defeated Andrew Garg in the quarterfinal round with a pin in 1:09 after receiving a bye in the first round.
Guttierrez takes a 16-7 season record on to CCS.
Uriel Basilio also finished among the top wrestlers in the league tournament, finishing fifth at 191 pounds. Basilio defeated Gurinder Khaira of Silver Creek in a 6-1 decision in the fifth-place match.
In the semifinal round of the consolation bracket, Basilio fell to David Rodriguez of Overfelt by a 6-4 decision. Basilio's first loss came against Jarvis Subia from Oak Grove by a pin after 5:07. He defeated Mike Welch from Sobrato in 3:59 by pin after receiving a bye in the first round.
Basilio is 11-9 this season as he heads to CCS.
Bobby Lopez finished sixth for the Rams at 154 pounds after falling to Bryant Pena of Evergreen Valley by a 6-3 decision in his final match.
In round three of the consolation bracket, Lopez defeated Peter Ng of Independence in a 7-2 decision after downing Jordan Rasmussen with a 6-5 decision. His first loss came to Mike Asprer of Andrew Hill by a pin at 2:40.
Lopez won his first match of the day over Ly Thach of Oak Grove with a 19-4 technical fall.
Lopez is 13-6 heading into the section tourney.
Omar Hernandez finished seventh for the Rams at 287 pounds, and Freddy Betancourt was seventh at 142. Both Hernandez and Betancourt may participate in the CCS finals if they choose.
Also taking part in the league tournament for the Rams were Francisco Vargas, Hugo Hernandez, Oswaldo Michel and Luis Vargas.
Willow Glen finished the tournament in 15th-place with 72 team points.
Willow Glen defeated Gunderson 40-18 in its last match of the season on Feb. 8 in the West Valley Division of the BVAL. With the win, the Rams completed league competition with a 7-0 dual match record.
The majority of the Willow Glen wins came by forfeit, but Basilio pinned his opponent in 56 seconds at 191 pounds and Lopez pinned his in 1:32 at 154.
H. Hernandez won a major decision
13-3 at 147s, and L. Vargas pinned his opponent in 1:55.
